lonel Abraham
Buford in May 1780 at the Waxhaws, south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
From then on he was known as "Bloody Tarleton".

Congress elected Horatio Gates to replace Lincoln in the southern
command. Gates hurried south with several thousand Maryland, Virginia,
and North Carolina militiamen and Continental troops. Stumbling into
Cornwallis' army at Camden, South Carolina, he planned and executed a
faulty battle plan. Cornwallis executed perfectly and completely routed
Gates. For the only time in the war Virginia militiamen behaved badly,
fled the field, and were a major contributing factor to the disaster. Not
only did Gates lose 600 men, many of them battle-hardened Continentals,
he lost two outstanding officers, General Jean de Kalb, the tough German
officer, and Colonel Edward Porterfield from Virginia. Facing almost sure
defeat in the Carolinas, Congress replaced Gates with Nathaniel Greene of
Rhode Island, taking care not to embarrass the Englishman who had given
so much to Patriot cause.

Greene turned out to be the man to baffle Cornwallis. With a constantly
underequipped and often inadequate army he managed to keep Cornwallis at
bay. He was moved by one desire--to force Cornwallis into costly battles,
but never expose his whole army to capture. Flee if necessary, but be
able to fight another day. He was inventive and unorthodox. With an army
much smaller than Cornwallis' he divided it into thirds, plus compelling
Cornwallis to divide his own army. Greene knew that Cornwallis,
victorious as he might have been, was detached from Charleston and had to
live off the land. He would fight a war of attrition and wear Cornwallis
down. His strategy worked, although not without fateful moments. He had
great faith in his command officers and gave them considerable leeway.
They rewarded him with two stunning victories--King's Mountain, North
Carolina in October 1780 and Cowpens, South Carolina in January 1781.

King's Mountain was a unique battle for it was fought almost completely
between Americans, Major Ferguson and his South Carolina, New York, and
New Jersey Tories on the British side and North Carolina and Virginia
frontier riflemen under Colonels Isaac Shelby, fiery William Campbell,
and John Sevier for the United States. Although Ferguson's position from
the outset was nearly impossible, he refused to surrender, knowing what
was in store if he did. He was correct. The hatred which only the
Carolina civil w